Arthroscopic surgery is being used much more frequently in knee surgery and in the diagnosis of knee injuries. An arthroscope resembles a long, very narrow tube and may be provided with a magnifying lens at one end. The arthroscope is inserted through a very small puncture wound of the knee, in the order of from 2-5 millimeters in diameter rather than a relatively large incision. The surgeon examines the knee through the arthroscope and inserts small instruments through other puncture sites. In the preferred arthroscope models used in the present invention the viewing area of the arthroscope is magnified and projected onto a television screen whereby the surgeon actually performs the surgery while viewing the television screen.
Because a substantially smaller puncture-type wound is made in the knee, the surgery may be performed under a local anesthetic and the operation may be completed in approximately twenty minutes as compared with from one and one half to two hours previously. Since the damage to the knee is so much less from the small puncture wounds, the patient's recovery time is substantially less. The patient customarily is up and walking within one day and in some instances even sooner.
It has been the practice in the past to use a post which did not permit any rotational control and a strap to hold the patient's leg immobile while the operation was being performed. Tourniquets were placed on the leg, but the amount of pressure applied has not been known. Moreover, it has been necessary to break the sterile field when other procedures, such as taking x-rays, operating on both knees, or the like, were required.